Some time ago, you might remember that Roy became quite taken with animation and illusions. I had taken some Snoopy animation film cels to show the children (you can read about these by clicking here) and they were fascinated to learn about the history of animation. Roy decided then and there that he would have to learn to make some of the old animation toys so that he could show all his online friends how to make them too. He's already created a thaumatrope, which you can find out about by clicking here. Now, he's finally conquered the flip book and is ready to show you a fool proof method of making your own!
You Will Need:
- A couple of sheets of white paper
- A stack of 127x76 millimetre index/palm cards (you can usually buy these at a $2 Shop)
- A lead pencil
- A ruler
- A pen
- Scissors
- A rubber band and a stapler (it will depend how fat your book is whether you can staple it together or need to use a rubber band)
Optional:
- Coloured pencils or pens to colour your animation. Roy and I did a jumping man, so we decided not to colour ours.
Method:
- Decide what you want your flip book to show. Something simple is best for first times. Roy chose to show a stick figure 'jumping Jack', but some other suggestions of what you could do are a sad face turning into a happy face, somebody running or a flower blooming, one petal at a time. Your imagination is the limit!
- Use your blank paper to make a storyboard. You will need to draw rectangles onto your page and each rectangle will represent one page.
- Roughly sketch out your animation on your sheets of paper. This storyboard allows you to plan out what you want to draw. Remember, you only want to make small movements between each picture so that it moves smoothly when you transfer it to the index cards!
- When you are happy with your story board, start to draw your pictures onto your index cards. Draw as close to the right-hand edge of the card as you can. If your picture is small, draw it in the top right hand corner.If you make a mistake, simply take that card out of the stack!
- Occasionally, flip your pages to check how the animation works.
- If there seems to be a 'jump' in your animation, insert another card into the stack between the two pages and fill in the gap with the missing movement.
- When you finish your book you can colour the pictures in if you like.You can also draw backgrounds for your animation if you like!
- Make a cover for your book. Roy called his 'Roy's Jumping Jack Flip Book'.
- Now, put your book together. Roy's was too fat to staple, so we put the rubber band tightly around the edge of your book to hold the cards together.
- Flip through your animation and enjoy!